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Why a rolling forecast budget is the best tool for planning

Questica

March 28, 2017

We at Questica believe that there should be multiple options for your budgeting and forecasting needs, and that includes a rolling forecast. Many organizations stick with a traditional annual budget — done once a year, presented and updated as needed, and then the cycle starts all over again the next year. Other options however are a Rolling Forecast Budget. But there are many reasons to consider a rolling forecast budget, especially if you find your budget needs changing. So should you use a rolling forecast budget over a traditional one? Read on to find out more!

What is a rolling forecast budget?

Let’s start with the basics. When I say rolling forecast budget (RFB), I mean a budget that is continually updated after it has been created. Traditional budgets are done once a year, and usually it is a pretty stressful time. The budget attempts to forecast where the company will be standing financially at the same time the following year. The budget is updated slightly during the year in the event of major earth shattering events, but mostly it is static. At the end of the year, the company reviews how the actual numbers compare to the predicted ones, and a new budget is made all over again.

A RFB is different. The budget is made to project ahead 12 months. After the first month of the projection is finished, it is cut from the budget and a new month’s forecast is added onto the end. This means you are making projections throughout the entire year instead of all at once. Yes, some of you undoubtedly flinched reading that sentence, contemplating a never-ending budget season. Isn’t once a year bad enough already? Well, the good thing about a RFB is that, apart from its initial creation, you’re not making projections for an entire year. Just once a month, which is much more manageable for your time!

The other great thing is that constantly updating your budget allows your organization the freedom of flexibility. Let’s say the market unexpectedly shifts in a new direction the top analysts never saw coming. You want to take advantage of that. On a regular static budget, you would pretty much be out of luck. It would just take too long to adjust the budget for the year to fit the new idea. By the time you finish the adjustment, the opportunity passes or someone else takes advantage of it before you do. With a RFB, it’s much easier to take that chance because it’s much easier to adjust the months in the budget down the line. This allows you to plan ahead with greater accuracy.

Plan ahead with Questica

We hope you see the benefits to a rolling forecast budget. If you would like to take advantage of Questica’s budgeting software, visit our website where you can request a demo for yourself. Questica has innovative, easy to use software to make your budgeting — whatever form it may take — as easy and stress-free as possible. Make sure you’re always planning ahead!

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About Questica

Questica’s budget preparation and management software suite – Questica Budget – Integrates with more than 25 financial systems, along other systems. This ensures organizations can access all the information they need to develop, track, monitor and adjust their budgets, plus report out to stakeholders when and to who they need to. Questica Budget Suite’s Operating, Salary, Capital and Performance modules ensure public sector organizations have a clear view into their budgets, forecasts and expenditures, thus enabling those organizations to deliver on their financial and non-financial strategic objectives. Additionally, Questica’s easy-to-use OpenBook transparency and data visualization software can be used to share an organization’s financial and non-financial information with both its internal and external stakeholders. To learn more about Questica and how our software solutions can help your organization – watch a product video, read one of our case studies/whitepapers or request a demo today!